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An SNP MP has been accused of "hypocrisy" by one of her former colleagues at Westminster in a row over social media abuse. Kirsty Blackman said today politicians were especially vulnerable to online hate - and the problem was deterring young women from considering a career in politics. But Joanna Cherry accused the MP for Aberdeen North of being an "active participant" in her own houding on social media. Blackman told the BBC that "female candidates were twice as likely to be threatened". She added: "We saw a huge number of MPs and candidates threatened during the course of the election. We saw that female candidates were twice as likely to be threatened and ethnic minority candidates were three times as likely to be threatened. "We saw that the rhetoric on social media was a real problem, and things have really moved on in the last few years. "Certainly when I was first elected as an MP, I had no problem standing in front of a class of parents and saying, this is a good job where you can help folks, whereas now I really struggle to say that, particularly to young women, because of the threats and abuse that are received." But Blackman's stance was soon questioned by former SNP MP Joanna Cherry. She said: "I’ve just heard Kirsty Blackman MP on BBC Good Morning Scotland bemoaning the abuse of MPs on social media. Astonished hypocrisy given her own active participation in the hounding of gender critical women, particularly lesbians, including me on Twitter. All complaints to the SNP were ignored." Cherry, who lost her seat at last year's general election, clashed with a number of her SNP colleagues during her time at Westminster. The KC previously claimed her belief that "women are adult human females" made her unpopular with some in the SNP. Cherry has also spoken of "an 18-month campaign of social media lies, smears and foul-mouthed abuse directed at me from a number of mainly young men within the party who seem to have a problem with middle-aged lesbians who support women's sex-based rights". Cherry and Blackman have a history of disagreement. In October 2021 Blackman retweeted a post calling for Cherry to be expelled from the SNP - although she later deleted it and posted: “I am clear the SNP needs to do more to tackle internal transphobia, including sanctioning or expelling those in the party who are transphobic.” And in June 2023 Cherry reportedly "rolled her eyes and scoffed" at a statement by Blackman during a Westminster debate about whether to change the definition of sex in the Equality Act. The Record asked the SNP for comment. To sign up to the Daily R ecord Politics newsletter, click here
